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Review & Comparison: Revlon Colorstay Eyeshadow in 520 Brazen

9:00 AM

Hey everyone! Today I wanted to share a product review of an eyeshadow quad that I was really excited to try. If you've followed me from the beginning of my blogging days, you may remember that I had a loveaffair with Revlon's now discontinued Colorstay quad in Copper Spice. When Revlon repackaged their Colorstay quads, I saw some very familiar colors and wanted to see how the quality compared with my original favorite! Did it live up to its predecessor? Let's take a look.

Here is Copper Spice:

And here is Brazen:

Minus the shadow making the gold color look tan, you can see that each shadow in Brazen seems to be very much inspired by Copper Spice's original shade selection. Unfortunately, this seems to be where the similarities stop.

Revlon Colorstay Eyeshadow in 520 Brazen

I owned several of the older Colorstay quads and loved them for their buttery texture and high pigmentation but as you can see in the swatch image above, the two lighter colors are hard and patchy and definitely not up to the quality I was used to. The formula of the two darker colors was good but they just don't have the richness of color that the Copper Spice quad had and aren't as flattering on my skintone.

Revlon Colorstay comparison. 520 Brazen is boxed in white.

See how gritty and patchy the lighter shades are? This was after multiple swipes too. One thing that also disappointed me was how different the copper shade is. Granted it is a completely new palette with a new name so they are allowed to be different colors, but the copper from Copper Spice was one of my favorite eyeshadows so I was sad to see it change.

I'm not sure if the palette I received was a fluke, but I don't think I'll be purchasing future Revlon Colorstay quads. Let me know if this experience was just mine or if yours were lowered in quality as well.

Readers, have you tried Revlon's current Colorstay shadows? Do you find that the quality improved or got worse? What's your favorite drugstore brand for eyeshadow? Let me know in the comments!

Revlon's eyeshadows are not up to par any more. I think that the older formulations were way better--either that or I've just gotten used to the better quality of brand products. I find that for drugstore brands, I tend to gravitate towards Wet N Wild and NYX. They have way better quality as far as texture and pigmentation over Revlon.

I actually didn't have the same experience with the older quads...I have 2 of them (the purple one and the copper spice) and I find them very hard and not pigmented. But if these new ones are worse? Ugh. Definitely not going to try. Thanks for the review, Jen!

HI!I saw your review about the old revlon palette and I started to look for it, since I have a similar skin tone than you.I didn´t found it and I bought the new one.I was really disapointed, the color of the shadows are really weak, and they don´t stay even using the urban decay eye primer.

I have one old and several new but none are of similar shades so I can't really compare that, but as formulation goes, I think the old ones were a bit better and the new ones are hit ir miss. Thanks a lot for the review Jen ^^Have you tried the one in Moonlit? It's neutral too and quite good :) xx

Wet & Wild seems to consistently come out with nicely pigmented shadows. They do tend to have more fallout since they are soft in texture, but if you apply foundation after eye makeup you can always wipe off the fallout beforehand. I really like all their palettes I've tried!

Ohh I so get your dissapointment in this..I picked Brazen up thinking it'd be the perfect everyday eyeshadow quad for me, but the 2 lighter shades just do NOT show up, at all! I still like the 2 darker ones though, I just layer them over Maybelline's Bad to the bronze for added pigmentation :/

I'm not a particular fan of the Revlon eyeshadows anymore, however, I did buy a couple of the quads to try out as there was 50% off. I think Australia has different colours to the US, but I found that our Delightful palette has some similiar shades to Copper Spice (we don't have Brazen).

Their lip products have improved drastically. I love the staying power of their Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains and also their ColorStay Ultimate Suede. The only down to the Balm Stain is probably the minty feeling, otherwise no complaints.

Another new found secret from Revlon is their Whipped Creme Foundation. I quite like the texture and application of this and color match has been good so far for a drug store foundation!

I think brazen's colors leans toward 'buff' in the old quads, but i agree..it's much more patchy. And the other reason i dislike about this new quad, is that no pattern makes it looks dull in my eyes. I'm still pondering to get the new quads, but they haven't discontinued the 12 hour quads in my country so I'm gonna stick to the old ones. Thanks for the review Jen. :*

Do you have any idea why there is a difference in some of the numbers of they quad eyeshadows? My daughter and I loved our #05 Blushed Wines but I'm also findind a #325 Blushed Wines. I don't know which to order (eBay or Amazon.)I can't believe they discontinued these, either. I've tried many others and they are either too purple or too brown for me.

Wow that's very interesting to hear... As a woman of colour, I would totally recommend the Brazen palette (I guess to other women of colour). But mind you, the two lighter colours show up very well on me and are quite pigmented I find for a drugstore product. They're perfect for the inner corner and most of the lid for me. And the darker colours are perfect as crease, outer corner or liner colours - sometimes I use the darkest colour for my brows. Plus they last all day (with primer of course!). It's totally my go-to everyday quad. I can't compare it with the Copper Spice quad since I've never used it, but I'm quite satisfied with this one. Perhaps this is not made for Caucasian or light-Asian colouring?

About me

Hi, I'm Jen! I've been blogging and making youtube videos since 2008 and have loved encouraging others to feel beautiful in their own skin ever since. I hope you enjoy my beauty tips and reviews, style inspiration, and a bit of my life as a wife and mother!